The Teamsters union said Thursday it has reached an agreement with Safeway that will reverse the decision by parent-company Albertsons to close a Safeway grocery and perishables distribution center in Maryland.
The union said the agreement means it will be able to maintain more than 700 warehouse jobs at the facility, located in Upper Marlboro, Md., and add 25 more jobs.
C&S Wholesale Grocers, Keene, N.H., has been operating the Safeway distribution center for several years. The wholesaler said in October it planned to shut down the Upper Marlboro facility and move grocery operations to one of its own automated centers in York, Pa., and perishables operations to a warehouse in North East, Md.
Under terms of the new agreement Safeway will take over operation of the Upper Marlboro facility and assume the contracts for members of Teamsters Locals 730 and 639 who work there, the union said.
It also said state and local officials have pledged nearly $1.5 million in financial incentives to keep the warehouse operating through May 2022, when the current collective bargaining agreement expires.
According to Ritchie Brooks, president of Local 730, “This agreement allows skilled employees to continue to work for a company they loved and sacrificed for. The key to this [agreement] is that labor, political leaders and the community all came together to show Safeway our solidarity.”

Phil Giles, president of Local 639, said, “By putting our heads together, we were able to collectively achieve a solution and preserve these good jobs.”
The agreement does not affect plans to C&S to move general merchandise operations from a Safeway facility in Landover, Md. — which employs 191 workers — to one of its warehouses in Bethlehem, Pa.
C&S had been operating the facilities in Upper Marlboro and Landover for Safeway under the name Collington Services.